Applejack the Ripper 3

You awake to the light shining through your bedroom window. As you roll over to look at the clock you see its barely past 7 am. You have dodged a hangover, but you are too awake to try to sleep more. You decide on going to see Twilight, see if she has any ideas on the case. You slide yourself out of bed and stumble into the shower, hoping the water will clear your mind a bit.

As you dry yourself off and get dressed, you try to find a connection between the two p0nies, thinking out loud as you do.

‘Both earth p0nies, both work with plants, both live in or near P0nyville. But there must be another connection.’

You slide on your overcoat and place your fedora on. You lock your front door, and leave via the office door, making sure to put the “In Town” sign up. You stroll towards town, realising you never really left your house this early. You see little fillies and colts running to school on the opposite side of town. It makes you smile, they don’t need to know the horrors of the world yet.

When you get closer to the centre of town, you start to smell the scent of fresh baked goods. Pinkie Pie was hard at work at this time. You take a bigger whiff, and you smell something different. You start to smell…iron? No, it’s definitely a metal scent, coming from an alley way. You run over to see where the smell is coming from, and the sight in front of you almost makes you throw up. It was occurring more often. You had to block this view and get the body away from here.

 

 As you use a few trash cans to block the view, you see a light brown stallion with a dark brown mane walk past. You realise it would be a gamble to try and leave the body here.

‘Excuse me sir?’ you say.

He turns to look at you. ‘Oh Detective Anon. What can I do for you?’

‘I’m sorry to bother you. I seemed to sprained my ankle, can you go get Miss Twilight Sparkle for me, Mister…?’

‘Doctor Whooves. And yes I can. Stay put please.’

As he runs off, you wonder what kind of doctor who couldn’t help you with a sprained ankle. Screw it, you think, don’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth.

A few minutes later, Twilight comes running up to you.

‘Anon, what happened? Doctor Whooves said you hurt yourself.’ She says, looking over your body.

‘Twi, I’m fine. But we have a problem.’ You lean in close to her ‘How strong is your teleport?’

‘Umm, Fairly strong.’

You nod, and motion over to the trash cans and the body behind them. Twilight gasps and looks at you.

‘I was on my way to yours when I smelled the blood. I got Whooves to get you so there was no panic, especially cos its…’

You couldn’t bring yourself to say it in public. She was so sweet, so innocent. This killer has gone too far now. You pick up the body, and give Twi a nod. Her horn started to glow and in a flash of purple light, the three of you are transported to the Library. You immediately carry the body down to the basement, where Twilight kept a spare table to complete autopsies.

‘When the mail arrives, call me.’ You say.

 

An hour later, Derpy Hooves knocked on the Library door. It was answered by a small purple and green dragon, Spike, who was Twilight’s assistant.

‘Hey Spikes.’ Derpy said, fluttering into the library.

‘Hey Derpy. Twilight asked me to call her when you arrived, said she wanted to talk to you.’

Spike walked over to the basement door, and called for Twilight. You walked up the stairs instead, and gave Spike a smile.

‘Hey Spike, can I have a moment with Miss Hooves?’ you say.

‘Uh, yeah. Course Anon.’

Spike walks upstairs and you turn to Derpy. ‘Derpy, do you let Dinky walk to school by herself?’

‘Yep, Dinky is a big muffin now.’

You could feel the tears welling up in you, and you wanted to spill it out all in one, but you had to be delicate.

‘Derpy, there’s been another murder…’

‘Did Dinky find a body?’ Derpy’s eyes straightened. You tried to speak, but no words came out ‘Where’s my muffin?’

‘I’m sorry Derpy.’ You lost it. Tears fell down your face as you spoke.

‘No…’ Derpy whispered ‘No NO NO NO NO!!!’

She broke down and you caught her before she hit the ground. She cried her eyes out into your coat, and you let her. A mother losing her daughter is a terrible thing, and you knew this was a reasonable response.

‘Derpy, go take the day off work, you shouldn’t be working after this. If you need to talk, I’m here for you.’

She can’t speak, but she gives you a kiss on the cheek before walking outside.

 

You walk downstairs, rubbing your eyes, hating everything of this world. All of this was probably your fault, the murders didn’t start until you arrived. Twilight sat next to Dinky’s body, just staring at her.

‘Did you tell her?’ she asks.

‘Yeah, she… she didn’t take it well. I told her to take the day off.’ You say, walking up to the body. ‘Do you mind if we get started?’

‘Anon…’ Twilight says, but you shoot her a look ‘Okay…’

Twilight levitated a quill and piece of parchment as you start to look over the body.

‘Same motive as last time, chocked to death then throat was slit.’ You slide your hand into the large wound in the belly ‘Pancreas has been removed, always with surgical precision.’ You pull your hand out and wash it in a bucket of water. ‘Tell Celestia that I believe we might need to widen the search to those with fingers. Diamond Dogs or adolescent dragons.’

Twilight looks up at you. ‘Why?’

‘Well, no offence, but I just don’t know how a p0ny could strangle somep0ny. I mean you don’t have  fingers to wrap around d the neck. And with Applejack’s death, they had to be extremely strong to take her down.’

‘Can I try something?’ Twilight says as she walks over to you. You nod and she brings her forehooves up to your throat. As she presses her hooves to your throat, you can immediately feel it, like someone had a grasp on your trachea. You give her a nod.

‘Send that to the Princess. If you need me, I’ll be at home trying to work this out.’

 

You make it home in fairly good time, only stopping to throw up twice. You slam yourself onto the couch, and remember all the p0nies you lost. You hated this, not knowing who would die next, and what was the connection to all these p0nies?

‘Two earth p0nies, and a unicorn filly. There is no real connection between them except P0nyville.’

There was a loud *bang* from your office. You walk in there to see a letter waiting for you.

>Anon

>Twilight has sent me the report.

>I am deeply sorry you had to witness it.

>They have organised the funeral for tomorrow.

>I do hope you go.

>Princess Celestia

You pick up a pen and parchment and write a reply.

>Dear Celestia

>it is my job to protect this town, and I chose it.

>I did not want any other p0nies to see the body

>I will be there. I owe it to her mother.

You send the letter before getting stuck into the alcohol again. You only have 2 glasses before you fall asleep on your couch.

Your dreams are filled with dead p0nies, those you couldn’t save from this monster. You tried to run from them but as you slowly ran, they caught up. You had to witness their murders again and again. You could hear them screaming your name, pleading for help, and you couldn’t help them.

Awaking from your dream with a yell, you breathe heavy, trying to calm your nerves. You look at the clock, reading 7:30pm. Might as well go out and get your mind off this, you think. You grab your overcoat and walk out the door towards P0nyville.

 

You reach the only bar in P0nyville, The Trough, and walk inside. It isn’t too busy, not since the murders happened. P0nies are too afraid to be out at night, and you can’t blame them. You park your ass on a stool and order a beer. As you skull half your beer, you hear a voice beside you.

‘Rough day?’

You turn to see a violet Pegasus with a light aqua mane. ‘You wouldn’t believe it.’

‘Wanna talk about it?’

‘You don’t want to be friends with me.’ You say, sinking your head lower ‘Everyp0ny who tries to be nice to me ends up dead.’

‘I’ll take that chance.’

You straighten up immediately. ‘Rose, that p0ny who was murdered first? She was on her way to apologise to me for the towns behaviour. Applejack was my best friend, and she died next. You know Derpy Hooves?’

‘Yeah,’ came a voice from the other side of you. You turn and look at a Pegasus with the exact same colour pattern, except her mane is shorter and more windswept. ‘Crooked eyes, can’t fly for hay seeds. Useless Pegasus if you ask me.’

You crack an evil grin ‘You tell her this stuff?’

‘Yep.’

‘Cool, then the next time you see her, after saying all that, If you really want to make her cry.’ The Pegasus leaned in close, taking a swig of her beer ‘Remind her about how her daughter was brutally murdered today.’

The Pegasus did a spit take at this and started to shake. ‘H-h-how do you know this?’

‘What? You seen any other humans walking round town? I guess that makes me Detective Anon.’

 

You look back at the first Pegasus. She has a horrified look on her face.

‘That’s why you don’t be friends with me. I can’t have anymore p0nies on my conscience.’

You feel a hoof on your shoulder. It’s the nicer Pegasus ‘Aww fiddle sticks to that. Everyp0ny needs a friend at times. I’m Flitter and that obnoxious p0ny is my sister Cloudchaser.’

Cloudchaser had already left to talk to some other p0nies, and you had zero fucks to give.

‘So, you really the guy looking at these dead bodies?’ Flitter asked, taking a sip of wine.

‘Yeah, makes me sick seeing something do -this- to p0nies.’

She placed a hoof on your arm. ‘Well, if you need any help, I can be there for you.’

‘No offence Flitter, but I don’t do p0nies.’

At this comment, Flitter started to laugh. It started out as a slight chuckle, but grew into a very loud laugh.

‘Oh human, you really are a funny one.’ She wiped away a tear ‘No, I meant if you need to talk. I don’t do…anything other than p0nies, and my sister doesn’t do males.’

You look over at Cloudchaser, who was now chatting up Rainbow Dash.

‘Hmm…should have guessed. Sorry if I sounded like an ass, I just… this job is going to kill me.’

‘Well, alcohol can make anything feel better.’

You smile and order another round for you and Flitter.

 

After you get seriously sloshed at the bar, you try to walk out, only to fall on your face. Flitter and Cloudchaser were kind enough to carry you outside and towards your home. After about 5 minutes, they stopped. You were too tired to lift your head, and in your state you could barely hear what they were saying over your mind singing “Tubthumper” by Chumba-Wumba.

>I GET KNOCKED DOWN, BUT I GET UP AGAIN.

‘Oh th…ks …ooves. You k….whe….e lives?’ came Flitters voice.

You felt somep0ny throw you over something’s back, and you were carried away towards what you hope was your house.

When you reach your house, you fell something lay you carefully on the couch before you drift off to the land of blackouts.

‘Silly human.’ Came a voice ‘You think you can stop me?’

Before leaving, they place a photo in your hand, before quietly closing your door and going on their way.